First Presidential Debate 2020: Trump was all about 'I' and not his administration, as personalities clash
President Donald Trump met Democratic rival Joe Biden in the first of the three presidential debates in Ohio on Tuesday, September 29 and the show was less than satisfactory for most. Many viewed the 90-minute event as more chaotic even as seasoned moderator, Chris Wallace, tried to keep the focus on key issues like coronavirus pandemic, race riots, economy, climate change and the like.
Experts expected Biden to attack Trump over his four-year show at the White House, but the president made his strategy of constant interruption evident to derail the former vice president’s train of thought. The net result of the disruptions and counter-attacks was a bitter fight between the two presidential candidates that saw ugly personal insults hurled at each other.
Trump kept the focus on himself and trashed Biden as an administrator
Trump appeared to strategically keep the focus on himself instead of his administration which has remained largely overshadowed during his tenure. The New York tycoon-turned-politician knows very well that it is he who stands out as the main face of the current administration, commanding all focus. He, therefore, brags about himself as a leader who did little wrong in the last four years and the first presidential debate was no exception. Trump also compared Biden as an individual to him and tried to showcase him as someone who did little as a politician and vice-president and even linked him with the Radical Left and Socialists. He also blasted the latter's family -- including his younger son Hunter Biden.
The individual in Trump even found himself to be an opponent of Wallace who he recently accused of being controlled by the radical Left. He told the moderator at one point: “I guess I’m debating you, not him. But that’s OK, I’m not surprised.”
The president has always tried to take credit for whatever his administration has done and slammed people, even in his own administration, who have tried to disagree with his viewpoints and his loyal allies. At the debate, too, the president did the same -- slamming his predecessor Barack Obama, China, California, Radical Leftists besides Biden while justifying his own actions. He never cared to say what his administration as a whole has in vision for the next four years if he succeeds in winning the election. There was no mention of any official in his administration and talks about any policies, barring his vague healthcare plan which Trump claimed was a better alternative to Obamacare. The president kept flaying Biden but never was there any self-assessment or talk on things that Americans could witness under Trump 2.0. Leaders or parties in democracies generally vouch for a better performance before they face re-elections, but in the case of Trump one suspects all levels of self-improvement have been exceeded -- at least that’s what the leader’s performance at the first debate said.
Trump and Biden will next lock horns for the second debate in Miami on October 15 and for the third and final debate in Tennessee on October 22.